Porsche Offers Free Charging, Just Like Tesla

Porsche North America has just announced a deal with Electrify America that will greatly benefit future Taycan buyers. In fact, it may even convince some undecided customers to send Porsche a deposit right now. Taycan buyers will receive three years of free charging at Electrify America public charging stations across the country. Each free charging session lasts for 30 minutes.

Does this sound familiar? It should because Tesla has done the same, at least for certain models. Tesla owners, again depending on model, also have free access to the company’s vast national network of Superchargers, so it only makes sense for Porsche to offer the same sort of deal.

Electrify America says it will have a total of 484 locations and 2,000 charging stations, each averaging five dispensers, either already installed or under construction by July 1, 2019.

A total of three hundred of these will be wisely located along highways and 184 of them will be in 17 metro areas. Each station will have 150-kilowatt chargers and at least two 350 kW fast chargers. The highway stations will be spaced no more than 120 miles from each other and the distance between them will average 70 miles.

To compare, Tesla has 1,422 Supercharging stations, but to be fair Electrify America is fairly new to the game, having only launched in late 2016. Porsche also said all of its 191 American dealerships will be adding chargers as well, but only 120 will have the fast chargers. Those will be highly desirable because they’ll enable Taycan owners to get at least 60 miles of range in less than four minutes. They could even reach 80 percent capacity in just 20 minutes.

The Taycan will also come equipped with the SAE type of plug, meaning other public stations with that type of connection can also be used, though they won’t be free. And, of course, Taycan owners can also charge their cars at home or work thanks to a Porsche-designed home charging system. The 2020 Porsche Taycan is expected to be revealed later this year.